There exists a continuing need to reduce the aerodynamic drag of projectiles fired from various size guns to increase the range and the impact characteristics or terminal ballistics of such projectiles. In order to accomplish such design objectives various tubular projectile designs have been evaluated and studied. A projectile which advantageously utilizes the tubular design is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20,140, which was filed on Mar. 13, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,736, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.
Although most of such previously considered tubular projectile designs have relied on their mass and terminal velocity to achieve destructive impact, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 050,288, now abandoned which was filed on June 20, 1979 discloses a tubular projectile which can be provided with an external layer of incendiary material. Tubular projectiles have not, however, been provided with explosive material to function in the manner of conventional high explosive artillery shells and conventional explosive air defense projectiles. In this regard, it has been thought that the tubular geometry precludes a sufficient explosive charge to fragmentation mass ratio to achieve high fragment velocities.